Abdul El-Sayed wins Michigan Senate race, first Muslim American elected
Seven Lights
Abdul El-Sayed defeated former representative Mike Rogers in the Michigan Senate race, CBS News projected early Wednesday, becoming the first Muslim American elected to the United States Senate and retaining for the Democratic Party a seat held since 1979.
Mr El-Sayed, 42, a former Michigan health official, ran on a leftist platform of cost-of-living relief, anti-corruption and limits on corporate money, and galvanised young and infrequent voters in a state that carried President Trump twice. He had won the Democratic primary by a single point over Representative Haley Stevens, after Senator Gary Peters chose not to seek re-election, and national Democrats had questioned the electability of a progressive in battleground Michigan.
The closing weeks brought sustained attacks from the national right. Mr Trump and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas described Mr El-Sayed as a “jihadist” and asserted membership of the Muslim Brotherhood. “If I am correct that he is a passionate supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood, there is a very real risk that Americans will die as a result,” Mr Cruz said days before the vote. Mr Trump invoked Todd Beamer, the passenger who fought back on Flight 93: “Twenty-five years later, Michigan needs to stand up and fight, just like Todd Beamer did, to stop a jihadist from walking into the Capitol.” Mr El-Sayed told Fox News: “I have never been a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, I never will be a member of the Muslim Brotherhood.”
A rift with Ms Stevens became public days before the election. She appeared alongside Mr Rogers at a Detroit church on Sunday and endorsed him, after demanding that Mr El-Sayed condemn an outside group’s advertisement linking American military aid to Israel with rising grocery prices, which she called antisemitic. Mr El-Sayed noted the ad “was not made by me” and said he disagreed with its contents.
Mr Rogers, 63, a former FBI agent and Army veteran who lost the 2024 Senate race to Elissa Slotkin by 20,000 votes, had at times distanced himself from the president’s policies, including the war with Iran. Michigan’s prime position in the 2028 presidential nominating process gives Mr El-Sayed an early national platform in the new Senate.